


Coming Home

by Acathz



Category: Lambert the witcher, Wiedźmin | The Witcher (Video Game), Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Multi, Romance, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-27
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2020-05-20 12:06:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19376365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Acathz/pseuds/Acathz
Summary: Lambert finally returns home to Kaer Morhen after 7 years. He came fully prepared to handle any monsters that had made the old fortress their home in the Witcher's absence, but was not prepared to deal with any people who weren't his brothers.Lambert comes home to find that Kaer Morhen had been returned to its former glory as a school. No longer producing Witchers, the students learn sword craft, science, art, and literacy. Lambert was not expecting this, and he certainly didn't expect to meet a young girl who called his brother, "Father."





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, thank you for clicking on my story! i love the Witcher boys and they just need some TLC. This is my first attempt at writing a full on fanfic, only done short stories in the past so bear with me. If you notice any typos or anything wrong with the story, feel free to let me know, editing your own work is a little difficult.   
> Thanks again, enjoy!!

After the battle with the Wild Hunt, Lambert never knew what became of Kaer Morhen. He had left just a day after the battle, he couldn’t stand to be within those walls without Vesemir. As much as Lambert preferred everyone to think that he despised the old man, he really hadn’t. Vesemir’s death had hit him hard and so he left. But after 7 years, he decided that it was time to head home. He was unsure whether the place had fallen to ruins or if the other wolves had been able to fix it up after the battle, but as he turned his horse around the bend that finally brought the Kaer into view, it was not what he expected. There it was, in all its glory, rebuilt to look brand new and light streaming out of every window into the night sky.

Lambert gaped at the old fortress, unsure if it was on fire or if it could actually be inhabited. Lambert had come prepared to fight any monster that had made Kaer Morhen its home in the Witchers absence, but he was certainly not prepared to deal with any people that weren’t his brothers, and his brothers certainly wouldn’t use that many lights. As he rode on he silently prayed that Geralt and Yennefer had not adopted a hundred children. Riding up to the end of the road, he reached the gate. He looked up at the battlements, seeing shadows walking around and hearing them whisper, he didn’t know who these people were, but he traveled this far to get home. He’s getting in one way or another. Looking around, it didn’t look like the people where going to open the gate. He sighed and dismounted his horse, he turned and made his way down a narrow overgrown path just to the left of the gate. He trudged his way to the lake. He observed the area, it was miraculously clear of drowners, and in fact, any other monster that had normally thrived here. These people have been busy. He easily dodged the tree branches that grew into the tiny path and stopped at the bottom of a cliff, slightly disappointed that the strangers had repaired the gigantic hole in the wall. But the supposedly barred window that he used to sneak in and out of as a youth was still there, thankful the breach had still not been noticed.

Gripping the protruding rocks on the cliff he hoisted himself up to the window and opened it, the bars creaking slightly as he moved them. He could hear footsteps and what sounded like a boy say “where did that guy go? He left his horse.” Lambert moved to squeeze through the hole but was disappointed to find out that he had grown quite a bit in the last 20 years. Eventually he maneuvered his way in but before he could get fully through he heard footsteps approaching him quickly, scrambling to get his thighs through, was eventually freed but not before, three young boys with short swords hanging from their belts and heavily padded jackets that looked too large for them appeared before him.

“Who the hell are you?” The blond boy who looked like he was the oldest said as confidently as he could.

“I could ask you the same question” Lambert growled, the three boys flinched but the oldest drew his sword. Lambert could see that the blade was unsharpened, but drew his sword nonetheless. Not intending to actually fight them but wanting to teach them a lesson about learning who they should and shouldn’t pick a fight with. The oldest swung at him but Lambert could see it coming from a mile away and easily dodged him, turning and kicking the kid on his ass, causing him to face plant into the dirt. The other two boys looked at the oldest with wide eyes, then turned their eyes onto Lambert, then back to their supposed leader, and ran.  
The oldest scrambled onto his feet, almost losing his balance but found it and ran after the boys screaming.

“Intruder! Intruder!” Lambert sighed, rolled his eyes, and sheathed his sword. If the rest of whoever was in this place were like those boys, he wouldn’t even need his sword. Suddenly there was a flash of bright light and then he heard a female voice break out in laughter. 

“Intruder indeed boys. Thank you for being on guard but I can take it from here.” the light was gone and Lambert could see Triss Merigold with a smile on her face and her body rushing towards him in a big hug. “Lambert, I am so glad to see you. We all thought you would never come home.” she beamed up at him.

“Well I was in the area and needed somewhere to spend the winter, but had I known you were attempting to make more Witchers, I don’t think I would have.” He said with a deep frown on his face.

“Making more Witchers? Definitely not. Geralt and Eskel would not be okay with that.” She stepped away, still smiling

“Then who are those boys?” 

“Well,” she laughed “We may not be making more Witchers, but we can definitely still teach people.”

“What do you mean teach people?”

“Well, as time goes on there are less and less Witchers, Yennefer figured that with time, the entire practice would be forgotten. So we decided to open a sort of school, anyone could come and learn as long as they can prove that they have the nerve and the will. Surprisingly its taken off quite a bit. Lords and rich landowners have been sending their sons here to try to either get them under control or to have them prove themselves. We’ve even started branching off into teaching literacy, science and a whole bunch of other things.” Triss held his arm as she talked and dragged him towards the main entrance, obviously very excited by the whole thing. Lambert on the other hand was not that thrilled. He could see Triss was very determined to convince him otherwise

As they neared the entrance, Lambert could pick up on some chattering on the other side of the large door. Triss pushed it open and Lambert was stunned by what he saw. He did not think he had ever seen the old fortress this bright and lively. In fact, he was having trouble believing that it was the same fortress that he had grown up in. The room was large, with three long tables filling the space and those tables were filled with what he supposed were students, talking and laughing loudly, not even noticing the two enter. Looking up, a large shining golden chandelier graced the room, Lambert had seen his fair share of castles and mansions but had never quite seen anything like this. Looking closer he could see that the great pillars that he used to punch whenever angry, and the same fire that he would spend hours meditating in front of was all still there, and that gave him a sort of comfort, but they were just much prettier.

“Pretty.” was all he could say about the new look of the place he spent his disastrous childhood.

“I never thought I would hear you say that word, so I guess that is good enough of a reaction” Triss laughed again, looking around the room with bright eyes. “Trust me, by the end of winter, you will fall in love with this place all over again.”

“I was never in love with this place to begin with.” Lambert mumbled low.

“I heard that.” Triss grinned.

“Besides, this place is obviously full, I’ll be looking for somewhere else to spend winter.” Lambert grunted and turned on his heel, fully intending on leaving this cursed place. This was never a good idea, he didn’t know why he had it in the first place.

“Wait,” Triss gasped and grabbed his arm. “Eskel and Geralt and everybody else should be home any day now. At least stay until then. Beside, your room is still there, exactly how you left it.”

“Really?” 

“As much as we need the space, Geralt and Eskel insisted that one day you would come back so we never touched the room” Triss said calmly, eyes begging him to stay. 

“I can’t believe I’m doing this but since I rode all this way, and it’s been seven fucking years, I’ll stay. At least until Geralt and Eskel arrive.” Triumph shone on the sorceresses face and Lambert was hoping that he would not regret his decision. A loud whistle suddenly shot through the room and Lambert looked to see Triss standing on a chair, the room quiet. She better not do what he thought she was going to do. 

“Attention everyone” she shouted. “I’m sure you’ve all heard about the supposed ‘intruder’ that arrived tonight. Well, I'm happy to say that it was not an intruder, but a very old and dear friend. I would like to introduce to you, the Witcher Lambert of the school of Wolf.” Gasps and whispers ran through the crowd and Lambert suddenly felt very, very heated. “He is here to stay the winter with us.” The students made a sound that made him unsure if they were cheering or crying.

“I didn’t say that.” Lambert growled lowly to Triss. 

“But they don’t know that. It’ll keep them in line, thinking that you are wandering around.” before Lambert could respond with a snide remark, he caught a movement in the corner of his eye, a short girl had stood up from one of the tables and was making her way over to them with a large grin on her face. As she came closer, Triss saw her and reached out an arm to wrap around the girl’s shoulders. “Lambert, I would like to introduce you to our star student, Marley.”

“It’s nice to meet you Lambert, I’ve heard so many stories about you. Can’t say they were all good but they were all fun to listen to.” Marley said, Lambert could feel her eyes on him, slowly looking up and down his body. He smirked, because he was doing the same to her. She was small and petite but slightly muscular. She was wearing slightly baggy clothing but he could determine that she had a great body. Her face was plain but beautiful all the same, her eyes were a shocking light blue that clashed with her dark chocolate hair. Her smile showed that she was a goofy person, but he could see that there was more to her than just that. 

“And who would it be that told you those stories?” He asked, flirt heavy in his voice. She was young but could not have been younger than 19. 

“My father,” she said, grinning mischievously. Triss looked at her and laughed, shaking her head. He was surprised by that, he didn’t think many of the people he knew, much less were close to and actually knew anything about him, were able to have children.”

“And who might your father be.” He asked curiously.

“You probably know him, you grew up with him.” He didn’t know why she was being so vague but it was starting to piss him off, also because Triss was slightly behind her giggling.

“Oh so Geralt was finally able to pop some kids out, no surprise there, that asshat.” The girls both giggled.

“Not Geralt, Lambert.” Triss snickered. Lambert balked. No way had he ever thought Eskel would be the one to have or want a kid, Well, he thought, there was that one girl that slashed his face, but especially not after that.

“Not biologically but I came here when I was 14, he took me under his wing.” Marly said, leaning her head onto Triss’ shoulder, both girls smiling up at Lambert, trying to gauge his reaction.

“She was one of our first students here, escaped her home as a child of 14 when she heard of this place, never looked back. She’s one of our oldest but we just can’t let her go, or at least, Eskel can’t let her go. At this point we’ve got her teaching some of the younger classes because she’s so good.” Triss said to Lambert. “Now, let’s go find somewhere more comfortable to talk than here in the hall, the walls have ears and gossip spreads fast. I’ll have someone fetch your horse and your things and bring them into your room.” Triss said, but before she could lead him away again, he stopped her.

“As much as I would love to talk more, I am exhausted and I think i'm going to head off to bed. I’ll see you in the morning Triss. Mary.” Lambert nodded to the females and headed off down the hall, through the tables. As he passed, the students stopped what they were doing to stare at him. He thought he would have minded, but his mind was focused elsewhere. How long would it take for Geralt and Eskel to arrive? what could they be up to now? Who else would he see in his time here? Why did he stay, but where else would he go? He decided it was best for him to meditate so he could clear his mind. He finally made it to the end of the hall, so lost in his own thoughts he barely felt the eyes on his back or heard the whispers of the people he passed. Back here the hall looked very much like it had in his youth, but still brighter. He looked to the right and made his way to the very familiar, but freshly painted door that led to the landing of the stairs that led right up to his bed. Brushing his calloused hand over the handle, he pushed slightly. The landing was empty but as well lit as the rest of the place. He shut the door and started towards the steps. He barely noticed the new decoration when he heard the door open and shut quietly behind him. He stopped and turned around, quickly drawing his dagger and stopping the person in their tracks. 

“My name is Marley. With an L.” Lambert rolled his cat eyes, looking into her blue ones. 

“When did I tell you that I cared what your name is?” He asked. Turning once again hoping she would leave. 

“I thought Witchers didn’t sleep.” She had ignored his rude remark and continued to talk to him. Lambert was not happy about that. 

“Why don’t you go ask your ‘father” he remarked, not sure why he was still standing here talking to her. 

“He’s not my father.” Lambert snorted at that, remembering her thinking it was so funny to call Eskel such just a few minutes ago. “And besides, he’ll teach me anything I want to learn about fighting but won’t breathe a word to me about what it’s like to be a Witcher. He won’t even let me get within a mile of a monster, even though he knows I’m more than ready for the task.” she said, stepping closer to him with hopeful eyes. He looked at her distastefully.

“Trust me you don’t want to touch the Witcher life, and what makes you think I would want to talk to you.” Lambert stated. She once again ignored the rude remarks and held her head high, attempting to make her small frame look intimidating. He smirked at the sight, glancing down quickly to see her breast swell from her deep breathing. 

“I don’t care what you want, I care about what I want and I want to kill monsters.” She said angrily. Lambert had to say, he was far from intimidated but he was taken back by her boldness. She shrunk back slightly, realizing how childish she was acting but fixed herself and pushed her shoulders back, lifting her chin to look him in the eyes. “When I was 13 I killed my first monster. My biological father. He was abusing my mother and I. One night he pushed my mother too hard. She was on the floor, covered in her own blood, eyes open but like she was looking into the distance. I sat in the corner across the room from her. I watched the breath leave her body. I sat there for hours, He had thankfully forgotten about me, started drinking. More than I’ve ever seen him drink. I wasn’t going to let him drink himself to death. I had to be the one to take his life. So I did. I stabbed him in the chest 13 fucking times, one stab for each of the miserable years I had to spend with him. Do you know what the fucker said to me? He said ‘thank you’” 

Lambert was shocked, and slightly scared. During her speech her hands had found him. One gripping tightly to his forearm and the second tightly holding his shirt in her small but firm fist “Uh- listen kid, that sucks and all but I don’t know what you want from me.” bringing his large hands to hers and lightly untangling the small hand from his shirt.

“After the winter, when you go back on the path, take me with you.” she said softly “Or at least help me convince Eskel to let me go. I mean I am in no way held here against my will, but he would go after me and drag me back on my ass. Trust me, I’ve tried it. Not pretty. He is stunningly good at tracking.” She back slightly away from him, letting go but not breaking eye contact. 

“He has always been good at that. Stubborn too. I can see some of that rubbed off on you and that you won’t give up. Well I’m not that easily convinced, you’ll have to prove yourself.” Her eyes brightened at his words.

“Anything, I can do anything.” She whispered, full of hope and determination. 

“Alright. Meet me in the yard at sunrise. Don’t tell anyone the plan, If they ask questions tell them we are just training. And for the love of god, you are not going to start calling me dad.” He said sternly. She smirked at him, mischievous glint back him her pale blue eyes. 

“No promises, daddy.” Lambert balked as she turned and slipped back through the door into the noisy hall. But not before sending him a quick wink.


	2. Chapter 2

Lambert had spent the night meditating, drifting in and out of consciousness. Sure, Witchers didn’t need sleep but its not like they can’t or don’t enjoy sleeping. Lambert awoke to the sun shining bright on his pillow. It felt good to rest and feel safe for once. Lambert was still in a half asleep daze when he heard angry stomping up the stairs, he lifted his head slightly, peeking one eye open. Then laid his head back down deciding whomever was angry, could not be angry at him. He turned to get more comfortable, fully prepared to enjoy his peaceful morning when the door of his room suddenly burst open. Lambert jumped out of bed, dagger ready in his hands, but threw it at the floor when he saw who it was. 

“What the fuck are you doing, don’t you know how to knock.” Lambert shouted at the intruder.

“Sorry. Habit.” Marley whispered, looking at him with wide eyes. Lambert quickly realized why she was staring. He had slept in absolutely nothing, and all his goods were on full display for the young female. Lambert knew he had nothing to be insecure about but for the sake of the girl’s virtue, he quickly grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around his hips. The girl was still staring at his body, and he smirked, but it faded when he asked.

“And whose room to you make a habit of bursting into?” Lambert asked bending down to pick up the dagger he threw at the floor in anger. 

“Eskel doesn’t sleep naked.” she said lowly. Eyes having long since drifted to the floor, no longer looking at him. 

“Well I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I’m not Eskel.” Lambert shot back, moving around to gather his things. There was no way he could go back to relaxing now.

“I’ve noticed.” She whispered probably not realizing that he could hear her loud and clear. “You have quite the gallery of scars, you’re younger than him too, right?” she said, this time loud enough for a normal human to hear easily. Lambert looked at her. Annoyed that she had ruined his morning for seemingly no good reason.

“Why are you here?”He asked, moving to pull his pants up underneath the blanket he had wrapped around himself.

“I woke up at dawn, just like you asked. I’ve been waiting on the grounds for you this whole time. It’s nearly noon.”

“Oh, yeah I did ask you to do that.” He was not at all feeling bad that he had forgotten. “Good job, you’ve passed the first test.” he said plainly. Moving to grab his shirt but was stopped by a dull steel blade poking into his chest.

“Are you fucking kidding me? I woke up at fucking dawn, you think I enjoy doing that? That wasn’t a fucking test that was you being a fuckhead and forgetting!” she shouted at him, face becoming slightly pink.

“Whoa, young lady. I don’t think your ‘father’ would be happy to hear you say fuck so many time in a sentance” He laughed at her. “Put that butter knife down before you hurt yourself princess.” He suddenly heard a loud CRACK! And a searing pain rushed through the side of his head.

“I’m no princess” She stated, sword still pointing at his chest. “Teach me how to be a Witcher.”

“You crazy bitch, you hit me!” He shouted turning angry very quickly.

“You should have seen it coming, asshat.” 

“Oh you’re playing with fire now, girl.” he spat, head still ringing. He lunged for her but she was a lot faster than he anticipated and she ducked under his arms, sword pointing at his back, he turned around and lunged again. This time she was not as fast, he grabbed her left arm, but she jabbed him in the stomach with her knee causing him to let her go. He stared at her angrily for a moment and she hit him softly with the dull blade, he looked up to see that she was giggling, She may have thought this was funny, but he sure didn’t. He grabbed her again, this time not caring about her hitting and kicking, he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder, she was laughing hysterically. 

“You’re quick kid, I’ll give you that but not quick enough.”

“Eskel won’t be happy to hear that.” she laughed playfully hitting his broad back with her small fists.

“Give it up kid. I just woke up, I’m hungry, and still not completely dressed but I could beat you in worse conditions.” He threw her on his bed. Taking a millisecond to enjoy the look of her laying breathless, face flushed, and hair messy on his sheets. Before turning to pull his shirt over his head. “ You’ve convinced me. Go down and get me breakfast, meet me in the front courtyard near the stables in 20 minutes.”

“Will you actually be there this time?” He turned his head to glance at her, blue eyes gazing hopefully up at him. 

“Only if you bring the food I’m asking for.”

“Ok, fine, but you should know that I’m no kitchen maid.” she remarked, standing up from the bed, picking up her sword and heading for the door. 

“Trust me, I know.” but she was gone before she could hear him say it.


	3. Chapter 3

Just as he had promised her, Lambert was making his way down to the courtyard. Stomach rumbling, hoping she had picked him up something good to eat. As he stepped through the large gate that led to the front courtyard, he heard voices. He made his way down the stone steps to see Marley standing awkwardly to the side while a young boy was moving flamboyantly around the yard with his sword. Lambert barely took any notice of the boy, he was much too focused on the basket laying next to Marley’s feet. 

“And that is how you do it Marley.” he heard the boy say confidently. “Let me show you.” Lambert stopped in his tracks to watch what he knew would be quite a show. The boy moved around to the back of Marley and gripped her hips, Lambert could see her shift uncomfortably away from the boy but he still held her. “Now let's begin by picking up the sword.” He grabbed her wrists to help her pick up the sword. “Careful, its heavy.” He whispered in her ear. Lambert guessed it was meant to be seductive but he could see Marley getting angrier by the second. He wondered why she was putting up with this fool. Lambert watched her for a second more before observing the boy. It was the “Leader” from last night. What a coincidence. Finally Marley spoke up.

“Its okay Derrick, I know how to hold a sword.” she said sternly.

“Do you, your holding like a man, you need to hold it like a woman, maybe we should find you a dagger, we don’t want you to hurt your wrists.” He said sincerely. Lambert was sure that this guy had no idea how much of an ass he was being. 

“My wrists will be perfectly fine.” she shrugged him away and turned to face him, stepping back slightly to create distance between them. 

“OK, but-” 

“Walk away, Derrick.” she stated firmly, moving the sword down to point at his chest. “I know what I’m doing and I will not let you try to tell me that I don’t” the boy looked shocked but he didn’t look like he was going to give up so Lambert figured it was time to step in. 

“Hey kid, did you get me breakfast.” Marley's face lit up at the sight of him but the male on the other hand, looked very annoyed, until he noticed who it was approaching and his face suddenly got very pale. 

“Yeah it’s right there Lambert.” She laughed, pointing with her sword to the basket on the ground. Lambert could smell his breakfast wafting through the air and he was hungry. Moving right past the boy, picked up the basket, took out its contents and started stuffing his face. He looked to see the boy still standing there slack jaw, and slightly terrified. 

“Is this fool joining us for training? God knows he needs it after how bad I kicked his ass last night.” Lambert asked, still shoveling food in his mouth.

“No, he was just leaving.” the boy looked back at Marley with wide eyes as she moved closer to Lambert and rested her head on his arm, not quite tall enough to rest it on his shoulder. Lambert stiffened at the contact but easily relaxed after realizing that it was probably just for a show. The boy, still staring at them finally came back to himself, then turned on his heel and quickly left their presence. After he disappeared from sight, Marley burst into hysterical laughter. 

“You didn’t need to embarrass the poor boy, he was doing a good enough job of it on his own.” She giggled, turning her face into his jacket to stifle her laughter. He smirked. 

“I know I was watching him prance around the yard like a pansy. He was a real ass, why were you just putting up with him like that?” he asked finishing up his food, wiping his hand off, and moving to start his stretches. 

“I don’t know, it’s just easier that way. They are like children asking for candy, very stubborn. Most days I just ignore them and tune them out when they try to talk to me. When they start touching me though, that is a whole other story.”

“I didn’t think about it before but, are you the only female student here?” he asked stretching his shoulders and drawing his sword. Marley moved to do the same. 

“One of four.” She stated. “They are cool, we mostly just hang around each other, because we are the only females. We are like sisters that don’t really like each other because we are all bitches but we will support each other to the ends of the earth. It's complicated.” She was swinging her sword around in practice. Lambert thought that she looked quite like Eskel while doing it. 

“That does sound complicated, but I guess that’s how me and my brothers are too.” he thought out loud. “But enough talk, you gave me quite a show in my room but let's see what you really got. Come after me.” 

“Come after you? Like, really?” She tilted her head sideways, eyes scrunched up from the hot noon sun shining above them. 

“Hit me with all you’ve got.” He said sternly. He watched as she held up her sword and swung at him. He easily blocked it. “Come on, you can do better than that.” She moved her wrists, twirling her sword in the air and smiled mischievously. Lambert cocked his head, wondering what she would do next. Suddenly she lunged and moved to hit him on the leg but she changed direction last minute towards his shoulder. He jumped back just in time or she would have got him. “Not bad, princess” 

“I told you I’m not a princess.” she growled and jumped towards him. They had gone on for quite a while, her not quite hitting him and him blocking. He could tell she was getting tired but she was determined to get him. 

“A monster isn’t going to go easy on you like I am.” He mocked once again dodging her strike.

“Then stop fucking around and don’t go easy on me.” He laughed at that but took the challenge, for the first time that day, he was the one who swung at her, and much to his surprise she blocked it. Then she blocked him again, and again, until she jumped to the side of him and swept him in the side of chest with her blade. She stopped suddenly, eyes wide, grin large on her face. “I hit you, I hit you!” she exclaimed, dropping her sword to the ground. Lambert turned, mocking smile on his face.

“You hit me, but I’m not dead yet, and you are unarmed.” his smile widened and her eyes got big. As fast as she could she turned and bolted, Lambert close behind on her heels. She ran into the stables, knocking things over behind her to trip him up as she ran. Her laughter was loud and he realized that for the first time in a very long time, his was too. She got to a ladder that led to the top of the walls and pulled herself up. He was close behind and was able to grab her foot but she quickly kicked off her boot and kept moving. He was surprised by how fast she was. He jumped up the ladder after her, only to find that she was not on top of the walls. He looked around, then focused. She had been running so she should be breathing heavily, but he found himself unable to hear anything but the wind. Suddenly a weight jumped on his back causing him to almost lose his balance, and a wooden broom handle pressing into the front of his neck, making it hard to breath, but not enough to hurt him, she pulled on the handle a little harder, and wrapped her thighs around his waist. 

“Ready to give up yet?” She asked, hot breath brushing his ear, but Lambert found himself distracted. In the distance a figure rode up the path to the old fortress. That figure had snow white hair. “Oh, Geralt is home.” Marley pointed out, clambering down from his back and leaning against the broomstick, breathing heavily. “Man, you sure are a work out.” She gasped out.

“I could say the same about you.” He said, glancing away from Geralt to look at her, sweaty and out of breath, a light breeze came down upon them and her brown hair blew softly around her. Her scent floating past his nose. She smelled distinctly of pine trees and salty skin. “How did you get around without me hearing or seeing you? It's not often I have people sneaking up on me.”

“Eskel and I used to play hide and seek a lot. Or I would hide and seek and he would go about his business with me spending the day trying to sneak up on him. After a couple years of that, I’ve gotten pretty good at sneaking.” She reminisced, looking out on the horizon with a smiling face. “We always have fun.” she said absently. Lambert could see Geralt approaching. He gave Marley a firm pat on the back and moved behind her toward the lever to open the gate for him. Lambert figured it would be frowned upon to force Geralt into finding his own way into the fortress, just as Lambert had the night before. Jumping down off the wall, Lambert went to open the second gate, just as Geralt was riding in. 

“Well, well, look who decided to show up.” Geralt said sarcastically. He jumped off of Roach and went to Lambert to give him a hug. “I’m glad you are home.” He was sincere and Lambert suddenly felt bad for having left so suddenly after Vesemir’s death. 

“Here I am, came home to a total shit show though.” He laughed, moving away from Geralt but left his large hand lingering on his brothers shoulder. “First 10 minutes back, I get attacked by some kids. Glad you aren’t running a real Witcher school, otherwise these clowns would die not even an hour on the path.”

“Well most kids aren’t even studying sword-craft. But anyway, I'm starving let's go get some food and a good drink. Yennefer should be on her way, she wanted to travel by portal, and you know how much I hate portals.” Geralt moved to untie his stuff from Roach when Lambert saw a movement out of the corner of his eye. He smirked, Marley was crouching into the corner of the stables. Eyes on Geralt with a determined look on her face. Lambert watched her move. He could hear her breathing because he knew she was there but to anyone else who didn’t see her, she was untraceable. Thinking back to Eskel’s large limbs and heavy footsteps, he decided that this was not something that he had taught her. Geralt was still talking, too distracted to hear Marley.

“Geralt.” Lambert said annoyed. “Are you getting old or have you always been this slow?”

“What do you mean? Ahh!” Marley had jumped out from the corner onto Geralt’s back, almost knocking him off balance. She wrapped her strong thighs around his waist and hung on for dear life while he tried to shake her off. “Dammit Mars! You’re like a little parasite.” 

“Well I learned from the best parasite there is!” She laughed, giving him a big kiss on the cheek and hoping off of him. He pulled her into his side and gave her a squeeze.

“You better be talking about Eskel.” He said humorously.

“I’m not.” She laughed, breaking away from him to pick up her things. “So what about that drink?”

“Uh, no. No way. I am not going to let you get drunk while Eskel isn’t here. Not dealing with that kind of responsibility. Again.” Geralt shook his head laughing at her while leading them away from the stables up to the fortress.

“But-” Marley started.

“Assuming you guys were out training. Marley, how did you manage to get this guy off his ass to bother with you.” Geralt asked, turning to look at the odd couple. Tiny Marley with her goofy smiles and big hopeful blue eyes, and Lambert with his scowl and murderous appearance. 

“She barged in on me naked so I felt obligated to do what she asked.” Marley shot him a scowl but what he said didn’t seem to affect Geralt. 

“Don’t tell Eskel that. He’ll kill you for attempting to destroy her virtue or whatever, still thinks this little one is a virgin.” Geralt laughed as Marley blushed a deep shade of red. “Anyway, seven years must have changed you, normally when you show a girl your cock, you don’t care about what she wants.” This time it was Lambert’s turn to be embarrassed, if he could blush, he was sure he would be. 

“Eh, it wasn’t like that.” Lambert brushed off.

“Hm, sure.” As they neared the gates Triss appeared and walked towards them. 

“Geralt, uh, hi! So happy to see you!” She said awkwardly. Lambert could tell that something had happened between the two of them that he was missing. He knew Geralt was with Yen now, but honestly who even really knew with that guy. 

“Oh hey Triss, Yen should be in any minute.” Geralt said before quickly brushing past her, leaving her face as red as her hair. Marley make an awkward coughing sound before patting Triss on the shoulder and rushing after Geralt. Leaving her and Lambert. Lambert stared awkwardly at her for a second, not knowing why he was still there, then rush quickly after the other two into the fortress. For the time of day, Lambert decided that there were fewer students than the night before. Only a couple of them littered the tables in the hall.

“There were a lot more people here last night.” Lambert stated, still following the two down the rows of tables. Marley looked around.

“Yesterday was the end of term, most of the others have gone home for the winter. School only runs through the summer.” She said, perking up as she seemed to have spotted someone. Lambert looking in the direction she was waving and saw a young boy with dark hair sitting next to an angry looking girl with cropped hair. “Hey Geralt, Lambert, I’ll catch up with you guys later, gotta say goodbye to Dorian and Cass before they leave.” she said before wandering off in their direction. Lambert watched as the boy wrapped his arm around Marley as she sat down next to him and laid her head on his shoulder, talking to the other girl. Lambert suddenly felt something tighten in his chest as he stared at Marley and the boy together. 

“You’ll get used to it.” Lambert heard Geralt say, though he wasn’t sure he was talking to him.

“What do you mean, what will I get used to?” 

“Her. She’s wild and innocent and all of us here would do anything to keep her safe, I know that look.” He said putting a hand on his shoulder

“What do you mean? I only just met the kid. I’m not feeling protective over some little girl.” he spat, more to himself than Geralt, still feeling the tightness in his chest while he watched her

“If you aren’t now, you will. She is special.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

Lambert and Geralt had found their place at a table in the kitchen, half empty bottle of wine between them.

“So you make this stuff, at your vineyard in Toussaint?” Lambert asked, sipping the red liquid.

 

“Yup, how I’ve been spending a bit of my time.” Geralt said, spreading himself out to relax.

“So you are getting old. Witcher life not good enough for you? Vesemir always said, ‘No Witcher has ever died in his bed.’ Will you be the first?”

“Probably not, retiring is not as easy as it sounds. Yen gets anxious when its been too long with nothing going wrong. I guess I do too, but for different reasons. Don’t tell her I said it, but she lives for the drama, and if there is none, she will start some.” Lambert snorted at that.

“Are you surprised?” He asked

“Not really.” Geralt replied, “So what have you been up to all these years?”

“Well, before I left, remember when I said I would be traveling with that sorceress, Keira? We did that for a while, it was good, we had fun. Eventually we just got tired of each other and decided to part ways peacefully, which is more than I would have expected for a sorceress. After that, I traveled on my own, taking up contracts, spending winters in warmer place so I could keep taking contracts, constantly working, time passed, until I realized how much time had actually passed. So I made the decision to come home, and here I am.”

“Seven fucking years on the path, must have seen some shit.” Geralt laughed.

“Yeah no shit, In the south its fucking vampire galore, I don’t know why, but it is! There was once this one that-” Lambert stopped when he heard a creak at the door, he turned his head to see Marley leaning against the door way, hanging on to his every word. She flushed bright red when she realized he had stopped talking and was now looking at her.

“S-sorry, It’s just, I so rarely get to listen to someone talk about what it’s like to be a Witcher.” She said standing straight and moving further into the room. Suddenly there was a commanding voice from behind her.

“I thought we said stop with those fantasies Marley. You have so much potential, the Witcher life is not for you” Yennifer states, walking into the room behind her. Marley’s face turns red once more. Lambert sees Geralt wink at the small girl.

“That doesn’t mean I can’t be interested in it.” Marley said, tilting her head back to look Yennifer in the eye. Lambert never thought the girl would be so daring, and was surprised to see the taller woman brush off the defiance like it was not unusual. 

“Don’t be foolish. It is fine to be interested, but it is a whole other matter when this ‘Witcher training’ is interrupting your studies. Eskel agrees that your magic training is a much more viable option.” Yennifer stated, casually sipping out of Geralt’s cup.

“When will you see that I’m not 14 anymore.” Marley groaned. 

“When you grow tits.” Geralt laughed out, causing Yennifer to roll her eyes and smack him on the backside of his head. 

“Is that really all it would take? Triss taught me a couple good glamour spells that may work” Marley laughed

“Oh hush darling, if anyone needs a glamour spell it’s the idiots who try to insult you.” Yennifer said, walking over to the smaller woman and put her hands on her shoulders, she glanced down at Marley’s chest “Although…” 

“Stop, I get it, I’ll always be 14 to you guys.” 

“Don’t take it personally, love. I still visit the Empress every once and a while to make sure that she’s eating.” Yennifer wrapped her thin arms around Marley. “But in all honesty, you are extremely talented in magic, you need to put more effort into it.”

“I didn’t know you were a Lodge-member-in-training.” Lambert stated, looking at the small woman critically as she blushed. 

“Hardly, she may be talented but she really isn’t interested in magic. Yen, maybe you should stop trying to push it on her.” Geralt stopped talking as Yennifer sent him a sharp look.

“Whatever,” Marley stated. “It’s getting late, I’m going to head off to bed. Excited to get the room to myself since everyone else left. Maybe I’ll do something exciting like read a book before bed.” She muttered dully to herself. She moved around to Yennifer and Geralt, giving them hugs before she left, when she reached Lambert he stiffened, expecting her to hug him too. Instead she bumped her fist again his that was wrapped around his mug and made exploding noises with her mouth. “Alright Lambert… training... same time tomorrow? Please?” how was he supposed to just say no to her awkwardness?

“No.” She looked at him with wide eyes, he watched as her face turned red as she looked at the floor. 

“Damn, man.” She said to him, looking up. “You’re a real ass.” Her shocking blue eyes looking deep into his own. Lambert could see Yennifer and Geralt both look at them surprised, they almost seemed to be holding their breath waiting for a reply. 

“Yeah, get used to it.” He spat out, getting out of his chair to stand at his full height in front of her, She barely came up to his elbows. 

“I’ll come and get you in the morning. You better wear underwear to bed this time.” She looked angrily up at him, but he could see a light blush on her cheeks from the memory. 

“And what are you going to do if I don’t?” He smirked, putting his hands on his knees and bending down to her level. 

“Nothing, cause it’s not like its anything I haven’t seen before. Trust me, It’s nothing special.” She glared at him. “Now, admit that you had fun today and that you want to do it again. It’s not like you’ll find anything better to do.” He stood up straight at her words.

“Well, looks like I’m not the only ass here. Fine, I’ll meet you at dawn tomorrow.” 

“Fine. if you don’t get up I’m going to kick your stupid ass.”

“I’d like to see you try, princess.” He smirked at her. She huffed and glared at him then turning on her heel to leave the kitchen. Geralt was snickering into his cup. 

The rest of the night passed with easy conversation and a steady flow of wine. Lambert didn’t know what time it was but eventually, another person showed up. Lambert was thrilled to hear that his least favorite bard had decided to join them for the winter. Lambert knew he would end up chucking the doofus off the battlements if he stayed in the kitchen any longer. So he left with the excuse “ I fucking hate you Dandelion.” and headed off to his own room. Lambert was thinking about the next morning and caught himself feeling… almost excited to spend more time with the fiery young female. Lambert always enjoyed playing with fire.


	5. Chapter 5

At the crack of dawn, Lambert was surprised to find himself awake and waiting in the courtyard for the young female. He had brought some food down from the kitchen for the both of them and was slowly chomping on a bit of bread. “Well, well, look who finally decided to show up.” He snickered as he watched the young girl struggle to open the large wooden doors and trip down the stairs towards him. He could see that she was exhausted.

“As I said before, I do not enjoy getting up this early.” she mumbled.

“Whatever do you mean?” he said loudly in her face, trying to spark a reaction to bring her fire back to the surface. “This is the best time to wake up every morning!” she growled at him, causing him to laugh. “What Eskel never had you wake up like this, this is the same time we had to get up while training with Vesemir. Man, Eskel really must be soft on you if he doesn’t make you get up.”

“Eskel preferred to train late at night, I don’t know why, but it’s just always what we’ve done.” she yawned, grabbing her sword and giving it a practiced swing. 

“Interesting, when I knew Eskel, late night was for other things.” He winked at her. She scoffed.

“I guess you and I don’t know the same Eskel.” 

“Well, I can’t say I’ve ever had the urge to call Eskel my daddy.” This caused her to turn and smirk at him.

“Well, maybe if you tried it you’d like it.” She lunged at him with her sword, catching him off guard and bumping his thigh.

“Well, there she it, finally awake?” He laughed, dodging a second strike from her.

“Just barely, so who knows how this could go.” she laughed, swinging her blade at him for a third time. 

“I have to say, Eskel seems to have taught you well, I’m surprised at his reluctance to let you fight any monsters.”

“So you think I’m ready?” Marley asked hopefully, gazing up at him with bright eyes. He whacked her small shoulder with his blade.

“Hardly.” he laughed as he blocked an angry swing from her. The sun had started to rise and they continued to spar, laughing as they went. They did not stop until the sun was high in the sky. 

“Okay man, I’m done.” Marley said breathlessly, leaning down with her hand on her knees, while the tall Witcher stood above her, barely breaking a sweat. 

“What do you mean, I’m just getting started with you!” he laughed at her. They both stopped and looked up to see a gang of young men pushing each other down the steps and laughing. Lambert looked up at Marley to see her reaction but she was all smiles at the boys who had started hollering down at her.

“MARS! Hey!” One of the boys shouted down at her. Lambert felt an indescribable pang in his stomach as Marley’s smile widened at the boy as she pranced up to him. Lambert was then reminded of the joke Geralt had made about her virginity last night and wondered just who this admittedly handsome, tall, curly haired boy was to her. 

“Hey Leon, what are you guys up to.” She asked, giggling as the other boys pushed this ‘Leon’ up to her, snickering behind him. “I thought you had all left for the winter.” Lambert sincerely hoped that none of these boys planned on staying for the winter.

“Oh, yeah we are all heading out tomorrow, had some, uh, unfinished business.” He smirked at her as she very visibly blushed under his gaze. “Speaking of unfinished business,” he winked “The guys and I are all heading down to the lake for a swim, would you like to join us?” he asked, then looked over at Lambert glowering at him from behind the brown haired girl. “As long as you are released of any responsibilities you might have.”

“Oh! Yeah! We are all finished here!” Lambert glared at the back of her head. 

“The lake is freezing this time of year, no one in their right mind would be going down there.” Lambert loudly pointed out.

“Well, no offense, sir, but none of us said that we were in our right minds.” Leon joked while his friends snickered behind him. This did not make Lambert happy. In fact it pissed him off very much. He didn’t really know why, when he was younger him and his brothers would do the same thing, but he decided he did not like this boy.

“Alright, fair enough, but Marley is staying here.” This made Marley shoot him a look that said that if he dared to stop her, she would set him on fire. But this did not make him let up. 

“You aren’t the boss of me.” She said as she picked up her sword and started walking towards the boys casually. Lambert did not take this well. 

“If you want to me train you, then this is the price.” He said. she looked at him angrily. 

“That wasn’t part of the deal.” 

“I’m here to train you for the path, if that’s what you want so bad. I’m not going to waste my time with a bratty girl who’s going to run after every entitled boy who just wants to get his dick her pants.” Her face turned red. Very red, and to Lamberts satisfaction, so did Leons, and his idiotic friends stood very quiet behind him. Lambert smirked to himself and wiped his blade off on his brown pants.

“Alright… See you later Mars.” Leon, still red in the face said as he turned to walk off with his friends. Lamberts smirk faded when he saw the look on Marley’s face. She was upset, but the look in her eyes said that she was ready to kill.

“You can’t speak to me like that.” she said loud and clear, her voice bouncing off the walls around the courtyard. Loud enough to make the boys stop and look at her once again. 

“I’ll take it from Eskel, that’s fine. He knows that he means the world to me. But I will not take it from a lowlife insecure Witcher who insults people just to feel better about his own miserable life.” She said, standing tall, confident. Lambert could have sworn he saw lightning crackle in her deep blue eyes.

“Alright then, pick up your sword. If you win you can go, if you lose then you can still go but I will no longer train you.” Lambert had to say, he was shocked by her unwavering confidence as she drew her sword. The boys behind her looked slightly scared, but they moved out of the way and sat on the stairs to watch. 

“Come on then. Princess.” Marley sneered at him. The boys behind her ‘ooed’ Lambert shot them a look and they immediately stopped. He smirked at the fierce young woman in front of him. They circled each other for some time, not realizing that they were slowly drawing a crowd around them, Geralt, Yen, Triss, and Dandelion a part of it. Lambert was waiting for an opening and he had finally found it, he lunged forward and attempted to strike her side but he quickly realized that she had faked the opening and she easily blocked him. It seems Eskel had taught her well indeed. They circled for longer, him noticing that she was quickly getting impatient. A grave mistake on her part, she stepped to hit him, but that was exactly what he was expecting and he dodged, turned, then locked blades with her. A fight of strength she knew she would not win so she stepped back, he swung, she dodged. 

Their dance went on for what felt like forever, the crowd around them getting restless. In the distance he could hear Triss asking if they should stop the fight but the only response was a loud shush from Geralt. Lambert did not realize that the conversation had distracted him and Marley swung her foot out to trip him. And she was successful. The crowd gasped. But Marley was too eager, she went to jab him but he rolled to the side and nearly hit her on the stomach, she was lucky she was fast. Lambert figured she would get tired out eventually and make a mistake, but the cool fall sun had reached noon by the time and she still was not ready to give in. Lambert saw another opening and rushed her, she dodged, and somehow knocked the sword out of his hand, disarming him. She too looked just as shocked at what happened, and he took advantage of the fact and jumped on her, toppling them both to the ground, him on top of her. They struggled for a moment, he could see her getting desperate, he ripped the sword out of her hand and was about to bring it down on her when he felt a powerful force push him up in the air and bring him back down. Someone was using magick, he looked up at Triss, feeling betrayed, but he quickly realized that it was not her. He turned back to see Marley standing above him, the lightning back in her eyes, sword in her hand. The force was pushing him down and he could not move. She held the sword above him, ready to bring it down on him, he closed his eyes, ready for impact, but it never came.

He peeked an eye open to see Marley smiling down at him, beautiful blue eyes back to normal. The sword was still in her hands, he looked at her, wondering why she had not made the final blow. Then suddenly the sword came down on him, but not anywhere that he was expecting. The, luckily, dull sword gave him a good thwack between his legs. He could hear every man in the crowd give a deep groan as if they could feel his pain. Lambert swears that if he could cry, he would have. 

“Admit that you deserved that.” Marley whispered to him, just barely loud enough to be heard over the roaring crowd. 

“You crazy bitch! No one deserves that! And you cheated!” he groaned, rolling on the floor.

“Don’t make me feel bad for you, you were mean to me.” she pouted, sitting on the floor next to him. “Besides, you didn’t make any rules.” He looked up at her with wide eyes. 

“Well I didn’t expect for you to throw me across the courtyard!” he said angrily. He groaned again when he saw tears swell up in her eyes. “You won for god's sake, why are you the one crying?” he looked at the small girl like she was crazy. 

“Because I didn’t want to hurt you.” 

“Then maybe you should have considered that before you hit me in the balls.” he laughed lightly, finally finding the strength to stand back up, pulling Marley up with him. He pulled back with his hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eye. “I am super not happy with you right now. But, go to the lake, have fun with your entitled asshole friends. Then come and meet me here again tomorrow morning, same time. Don’t be late.” Marley looked up at him with her big eyes and gave him a forceful hug, like she knew he would push her away. But to both of their surprise, he patted her on the shoulder. The crowd that had gathered around them roared loudly and they quickly separated. He distinctly heard Triss say ‘Aww’ in the distance. 

“Come to the lake with us.” He heard Marley say. 

“No way, I’m not an idiot. I’m going to bed.” He could see the group of boys behind Marley. They were waving to her and calling her name. “Better go, your little boys seem eager to talk to you.” he pointed out. She turned her head to look at them and gave them a wave. 

“Yeah, alright. Don’t worry, we will be safe.” 

“I don’t really think that you are the one I need to be worried about” He said looking pointedly at the boy named Leon standing with his friends. 

“I guess you are right. Wish Eskel could see it that way. Besides, like you said; he’s too little for me.” she winked and walked off towards her friends. Leaving him slightly stunned at the implication.


End file.
